Sunday, June 20, 2010

A study mentions that you can save money just by using the correct font on your computer. The researchers here claim that you can save 31% on ink cartridge costs if you use the "right" font over the standard font. The details:

Arial, reigning as the most popular font, was used as the “zero” measurement, against which nine other fonts were tested. The clear winner was Century Gothic, which returned 31% savings in both printers. For the average private user, printing approximately 25 pages per week, this will easily generate a net reduction of $20 in a year. A business-user, printing approximately 250 pages per week, could save $80. If your organization uses multiple printers, you can save hundreds of dollars per year doing nothing more than picking a more economical font.

Century Gothic is a modern font that comes standard with MS Windows. Surprisingly, it even beat Ecofont which was specifically designed with efficiency and cost in mind. For those who require a more “traditional” look, Times New Roman provides a good balance between style and savings.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Ridley Scott and his preferred partner in crime Russell Crowe team up again to bring another popular hero back from the woods, literally in this case, but intelligently, they chose not go down the 'rob from the rich and give to the poor' route. Instead they bring to life a fictional account of how the legend of Robin Hood came to being.

And it works only in bits and pieces, to be honest. Our hero comes across more as RobinusMaximus, an indestructible leftover from you-know-where, rather than an emotionally vulnerable yet supposedly roguishly charming Robin Longstride (who becomes Robin of Loxley and eventually the outlaw Robin of the Hood). The story line is a predictable David v Goliath meets Walk in the Clouds, and perhaps would have even worked if it didn't aim for the high human drama quotient and in turn try to take itself so seriously. And it is here that the film sadly fails. It ends up as lumbering and overdone. The cast does fine, and the battle scenes are to Scott's usual high standard, but the love affair between Marian and Robin is quite 'thanda', evoking almost no emotional connect, while we wait for the film to drag on to its inevitable good vs evil battle royale.

In the end it is a brave attempt, trying to do something new with the Robin Hood story, but the screen play is clunky and overdone and the execution is entirely run-of-the-mill. See this if you must.